The field of the present invention relates to hand tools used to handle electrical contacts, both pin insert contacts and socket insert contacts having wire crimped or soldered thereto; and is particularly useful for inserting or removing contacts into or from conventional electrical connectors commonly employed in aircraft and other electrical systems because of their reliability and space saving characteristics. These electrical connectors are characterized in part by the use of a flexible gasket protecting the contacts from weather and the use of resilient fingers which engage shoulders on the contacts to positively lock them in the connectors. Because of the small size of most such connectors, the use of flexible gaskets and resilient fingers mandates the special tools be employed to insert or remove contacts therefrom. An example of a tool for this purpose is disclosed in Military Standard MS27495 (USAF) which sets forth a hand tool based on a tweezer design of the normally closed type. Tools made in accordance with this Military Standard are well known in the art.
Of course, tweezers, wrenches and other tools designed with jaws to grip various materials are also disclosed in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,559,657, Nov. 3, 1925 to Todd discloses a hand-operated violin sound post setter; U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,090, Sept. 19, 1967 to Martin discloses a hand-held tool into which a nut may be quickly and securely interfitted to facilitate the insertion and tightening of a bolt therein; U.S. Pat. Nos. 996,462, June 27, 1911 to Curtis and 1,196,703, Aug. 29, 1916 to Kraut teach wrenches having stationary and slidable jaws; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,371,003, Mar. 6, 1945 to Trinajstich discloses a holder for electric welding rods.
In the insertion and removal of contacts with respect to electrical connectors, several problems are often encountered. Because of the multiplicity of wires generally involved, it is difficult to hold the contact with conventional gripping tools employing a tweezer-type action, because pushing of the tweezer into the bundle of wires requires a grasping action which tends to open the jaws thereof and release the contact. Also, the tips of conventional contact insertion or removal tools are quite slender and are frequently damaged, thus necessitating frequent and unnecessarily expensive replacement of the entire tool.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a contact insertion and removal tool which facilitates the holding or releasing of contacts in a crowded environment. It is a further object of this invention to provide a contact gripping tool having jaws which are held in a parallel configuration whether closed, partially open or fully open and which do not tend to open when inserted into an electrical connector. Still another object of this invention is to provide a contact gripping tool having jaws which are replaceable and hence, can be replaced when damaged without replacing the entire tool.